Well it was all smiles after a long and hard-fought tournament in Huntington Beach that saw Crossfire Boys 96B Spidahl walk away with second place in their Flight and perhaps a renewed belief in what they can accomplish together as a team. Six games over three days is never easy and with just a fifteen man squad to choose from, and the heat and humidity something to contend with, the team needed strong contributions from everyone to advance through to the finals.
Saturday
The first match against South Bay (SB) was perhaps the toughest match of the tournament, Crossfire opening solidly against a fast and technically sound team that denied us possession and moved the ball around quickly. Despite their initial dominance in possession, chances proved almost nonexistent, with our back four snuffing out everything within sight of goal and starting keeper Jack O’Keefe looking sure handed whenever he was tested from long range. SB’s best opportunities came from a speculative bomb that the wind helped onto the crossbar with O’Keefe stranded and a nice cross box run from the SB striker that Ian Dorney managed to snuff out for a corner.
We ended the half not seeing a lot of the ball but with our midfield working hard to deny them space and the front two chasing everything in sight to try and recover possession. We were happy to go into the half even against a team that always finishes well in the California State championship.
In the second half things began to turn our way as a result of our hard pressing, our belief growing as SB’s started to falter. The work paid off. Ryan Hill was fouled in the box, the referee pointing immediately to the spot. Nate Kearney did the honors from the spot and it was 1-0 Crossfire with the momentum having swung decidedly our way. Ten minutes later Braden Devey found space on the right, left his marker for dead and picked out Kearney again at the top of the eighteen who slotted home low and to the keeper’s right. 2-0 Crossfire and the points looked to have been secured. The next ten minutes saw us spurn several chances.
Luck, the bar and some fine scrambling defense from SB conspiring to keep the margin at two. At the other end Jack Hornsby had little to really trouble him but made several timely forays to the edge of his box to gather from speculative long balls. After a tough second half, we were happy to hear the whistle blow on a hard fought and deserved 2-0 Victory.
A few hours later we were back at it against the Legends. Within less than four minutes Hill was fouled again in the box and Kearney again stepped up to the spot. 1-0 Crossfire and hardly enough time for the parents to finish their first water bottles. All three Crossfire goals to this point had come from the foot of Nate Kearney. After the first goal, the game settled into another tight match against another technically sound team. The back four again defending tenaciously, midfield clogging the space and not allowing Legends to play through while the front two ran tirelessly.
Tense stuff as the game wound down and the next goal would decide how the points would be split. In the final minute of time, an excellent cross into the box from their number 14, who looked by his size and pace to be the same age as his number, was cruelly turned in for an own goal after leaving the entire defense shredded and stranded. They celebrated their great escape, we were happy with the point and the effort against one of the best clubs in Southern California. Day one finished with us in the driver’s seat for our group with only the weakest team, the hosts NHB, left to play on Sunday.
Sunday
Everyone had their slide rules out trying to do the group calculus but it came down to this. Legends was beaten by SB so all we had to do was win and we were through and top of the group. Goals from Braden Devey and Killian Pinkelman assured us all three points and top seed into the next round. The scariest point of the match came in a head to head collision that saw Kai McConnell and the NHB right back laid out on the pitch.
Thankfully a black eye for Kai was all the damage done. Again we were solid at the back. Three games so far and no goals scored on us by opponents from play.
In the knockout round, we were drawn against Santa Monica United (SMU), another So Cal powerhouse. This game was very similar to our first with chances spurned on either side, though we had by far the greater. After an initial spell of possession by SMU we began to take over, though we ended the half as we started. Early in the second half, Braden Devey settled the tie, driving home what would turn out to be the game winner. 1-0 Crossfire.
We pressed hard, buoyed by the momentum as their belief faltered. In the space of ten minutes it could have been 3-0, but luck and stout defending kept the deficit at only one. The winds then seemed to shift figuratively and literally as we began to tire and they pressed to get back in the game.
A nervy fifteen minutes followed, SMU pressing and Crossfire defending tenaciously. Mitch Cin, Michael McFadden, Killian Pinkelman, Kai McConnell, Nate Kearney and Riley Brown worked tirelessly in shifts to hold the middle of the field; Jaime Garnica, Braden Devey and Ryan Hill providing a strong counterattacking punch. The back four of Garret Strawn, Ian Dorney, Tosh Samkange and Nick Brundage limited them to half chances, Jack O’Keefe and Jack Hornsby keeping everything out that got past the back four.
The crossbar was kind to us only a few minutes from time, keeping out a well struck but speculative effort from SMU and we were relieved to hear the whistle blow on a hard fought and deserved 1-0 Victory. On to the Semifinals! Surprisingly we were the only top seed to advance past the first knockout round.
Monday
Palos Verde (PV) were our targets in the Semis and from the opening whistle the game was tight and competitive with two evenly matched sides going head to head on a postage stamp sized pitch. They struck first, a wriggling turn and quick strike from their number nine just sneaking past Jack O’Keefe who had done well to get down low to his right to get his hands on it. 0-1 Crossfire. The movement leading from the goal had come from a mistaken decision by the referee to award a corner to PV instead of a goal kick.
Coach Spidahl let the referee know what he thought of the decision both when it was given and again after we were punished by the mistake.
If we thought we had seen the last of the such blunders we would be rudely awakened a few minutes later. We fought hard to get back into the match. Michael McFadden, who had bravely played on what turned out later to be a broken foot, had to come off. A dangerous cross into the PV box saw their keeper spill the ball, Braden Devey finishing coolly. A roar went up that could be heard in Seattle, only for the referee to rule inexplicably that the keeper had had possession. He was the only one in the State of CA to think so, but his decision was the only one that mattered and the goal was unbelievably disallowed.
At this point, the lads could have laid down and quit, but they continued to fight for every ball, their desire paying off close to half time with a corner served splendidly to the far post by Mitchell Cin that a rising Tosh Samkange headed home at the far post. The football Gods demanded justice and here it was at last. 1-1.
We were on the rise and the second half began the way the first ended with Crossfire creating several chances. Halfway through, when it looked as if the game must go to extra time, Kai McConnell met a cross into the box with a thunderous left footed volley that sent the old onion bag bulging and Crossfire surely into the finals. 2-1 Crossfire!
Football however can be both beautiful and cruel. With less than a minute to play and the game seemingly secured, a long bouncing clearance fooled the Crossfire defense allowing the last chance of the match for PV which a streaking forward, left one on one with Jack Hornsby, couldn’t miss. 2-2 and extra time!
PV had escaped and twenty more minutes of tense football followed with neither side finding a way through. Penalties!! The bane of every footballer. The five from each side were chosen, the keepers prepared, Hornsby doing the honors for Crossfire. We missed our first, they made theirs. Neither side faltered on the next three, Kearney, Samkange, Dorney all striking theirs home to keep us alive with PV who matched us shot for shot. It was up to Braden Devey to make the 5th to give us a chance and he coolly slotted the ball home.
With pressure building on the last PV taker to win it, he screwed his shot wide to the left of Hornsby’s net. EVEN! SUDDEN DEATH!
We shot first; Kai McConnell stepping up to the spot, the leprechauns dancing on that sweet left foot. He shot low to the keepers left, it struck the post and spun in! Now the pressure was on THEM! They had to make it to stay alive but Big Jack Hornsby read the shooter’s eyes and his mind, moving to his left to block the shot. Crossfire Wins!!
Coach Spidahl gave the boys a reminder on the power of belief and credited them with their well deserved fight back. A jubilant, well fought, well deserved victory saw us through to the finals against Santa Barbara.
Only an hour and forty five minutes to the final. No time for a real lunch, rest, recuperation or anything else. Mad dash back for most to the hotel to check out. Madder dash back to the field to get ready to play.
Our opponents? Suffice it to say their forward line was bigger than our U-fifteens and just as fast.
Within the first fifteen minutes it was decided as they simply ran by us, forcing us to change shape, positions, tactics and outlook. We finished on the wrong end of a 5-1 score line, Kai McConnell slotting home to preserve our honor, but we walked off the field proud, exhausted, sore and well satisfied.
Six games over three days in the So Cal heat, with Coach and fifteen players, assorted parents and relatives (who made enough noise for at least a hundred), another contingent of vocal local Garnica clan fans, that supplied tent and cold-water and super support left much to be proud of.
Another superb job as always by the world’s greatest Manager Angela Strawn, who helped arrange team meals and coordinated travel and player cards and all the various and sundries to make sure we were on the right field at the right time with the right kits.
Maybe next time we’ll even have time to see the beach?
- Harry Samkange
